I started following this series because it was so rare to see archival documentary footage from the Soviet Union and the Third Reich, both of whom were known as creating consummately well-crafted film (and film technology) to be used for propaganda. So the visuals are absolutely stunning. But the short-comings with this series are two-fold: 1) there is the obvious ego-stroking of the Soviet Union in the tone and delivery of information here; and 2) the English-language team that brought this to TV in the USA accomplished their task in a very amateurish way.
To elaborate on the second part, the script was crafted for the written page, not for voice-over, with no sense that the information would be absorbed by listening instead of reading. Many times, the message is lost or becomes muddied -- for instance -- by repeatedly hearing the word "they" while watching footage of two armies fighting each other. Which "they" are they referring to? Sitting down and reading the script, there would be no difficulty following the thread, but the text needed much more work before being used for voice-over. This is not helped by the fact the graphics and maps are badly done, and that frequently the voice-over and image don't match up (e.g., an image of a crying mother while the voice-over is talking about tanks on the move). And when the voice-over and image *do* match up, it is usually (as has been noted in other reviews) in a condescending, knock-you-on-the-head way (as in showing a shot of a tearful granny and telling you this is a tearful granny).
And despite my admiration for Burt Lancaster as an actor, there are certain techniques to voice-over that were not relayed to him. In voice work, one frequently has to make unnatural breaks in a sentence, and unnaturally stress certain words, yet make it sound natural. Lancaster reads well and is in fine voice, but no one outside the audio booth would stop and tell him to read the text in a different way. (Again, I think this is because the English-language creative team which included Rod McKuen couldn't change their points of view to realize this wasn't a written work but a work of audio montage to be comprehended with the audience's ears.) And speaking of audio, some of the music is dreadful, especially some tunes Mr. McKuen "sings."
To elaborate on the second part, the script was crafted for the written page, not for voice-over, with no sense that the information would be absorbed by listening instead of reading. Many times, the message is lost or becomes muddied -- for instance -- by repeatedly hearing the word "they" while watching footage of two armies fighting each other. Which "they" are they referring to? Sitting down and reading the script, there would be no difficulty following the thread, but the text needed much more work before being used for voice-over. This is not helped by the fact the graphics and maps are badly done, and that frequently the voice-over and image don't match up (e.g., an image of a crying mother while the voice-over is talking about tanks on the move). And when the voice-over and image *do* match up, it is usually (as has been noted in other reviews) in a condescending, knock-you-on-the-head way (as in showing a shot of a tearful granny and telling you this is a tearful granny).
And despite my admiration for Burt Lancaster as an actor, there are certain techniques to voice-over that were not relayed to him. In voice work, one frequently has to make unnatural breaks in a sentence, and unnaturally stress certain words, yet make it sound natural. Lancaster reads well and is in fine voice, but no one outside the audio booth would stop and tell him to read the text in a different way. (Again, I think this is because the English-language creative team which included Rod McKuen couldn't change their points of view to realize this wasn't a written work but a work of audio montage to be comprehended with the audience's ears.) And speaking of audio, some of the music is dreadful, especially some tunes Mr. McKuen "sings."